Bartholomew Ziegenbalg boarded the Princess Hedwig Sophia on 29 November 1705. He later compared the seven-month sea journey to India via the Cape of Good Hope to an “academy of death,” replete with terrors from wind and waves, pirates and freebooters, seasickness, men overboard, and near shipwreck on the shoals off Ceylon. On 9 July 1706, as the ship weighed anchor outside the harbor of the Danish Crown Colony of Tranquebar, Ziegenbalg wrote in his diary, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us!”

2. The Danish King initiates the mission

In Copenhagen, early in 1705, the newly crowned King of Denmark, Frederick IV was conversing with his recently appointed German pietist Court Preacher, Dr. Franz Julius Luetken, about the sending of missionaries to Denmark’s overseas possessions. Initially, Ziegenbalg hesitated to accept the offer, yet never expressed a clear refusal. Later he found that his name along with another student Joachim Lange had already been forwarded to Court Preacher Luetken in Copenhagen. Lutheran authorities balked at ordaining the men (Bartholomew Ziegenbalg (1682–1719) and Hein-rich Plütschau (1677–1747)), and church leaders across Europe protested when they set sail.

3. The Proposed Mission Destinations

The King wanted them to catch the November sailing of the Danish fleet. While Luetken’s first letter had mentioned the Danish West Indies, the second letter now specified the West African “slave coast” of Guinea with its murderous climate as the proposed destination. The King altered the destination of the missionaries’ journey for the third time. The experiment was to take place in India, land of many religions, and high culture, rather than the slave coast of West Africa.

4. Studied Hinduism

In the beginning, Bartholomew Ziegenbalg was startled by the religious life of the Hindu-Brahmins around him. Later he made a field study of their beliefs and practices. Although he uses phrases like ‘foolish heathenism’, ‘heathenish darkness’ and ‘blind heathens’, he appreciated the Hindu belief in one Supreme God Almighty. This initial appreciation of positive elements in Hinduism, while pointing out the negative side, later gave way to more accurate perceptions.

5. The First Indian Language Bible

Bartholomew Ziegenbalg brought out the first New Testament in the Tamil language in 1714. In fact, it was the first Indian language Bible was produced ever. Not only the Bible translation, but Ziegenbalg also studied Tamil thoroughly, worked on a dictionary, and published a grammar.

6. Ziegenbalg called the Tamil Bible ‘Vedaagamam‘

He called the Tamil Bible as Vedapusthagam (Veda-Book) and Vedaagamam (Veda and Agamas together) from the term Veda. He did this to claim a superior status for the Bible over and above the Hindu scriptures. More recently, Tamil Christians – both Roman Catholic and Protestant – prefer the term viviliyam, which is a transliteration of biblion. In choosing viviliyam they have acknowledged the Bible as one among the many scriptures of the world, deriving its authority from the community of faith that claims it as its scripture.

7. Notable Landmarks

The brilliant achievements and groundbreaking activities of Ziegenbalg are:

1. The Danish-Halle Mission’s first baptisms, 1707;
2. Imprisonment by the Danish governor, 1708-1709;
3. First Protestant printing press established, 1712;
4. First Tamil New Testament translated and published, 1715;
5. Marriage and deputation work in Europe, 1714-1716;
6. Death and burial of Ziegenbalg at Tranquebar, 1719.
7. He started schools, established orphanages, and opened the first seminary to train teachers and pastors.
8. The first Tamil pastor was ordained in 1733.

8. Lutheran Church Establishment in India

Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Plutschau’s DANISH-HALLE MISSION is the origin of the Lutheran movement in India. The mission welcomed the first Asian converts to Protestantism, one of whom, a wealthy widow named CLORINDA, helped build the first Protestant church in Asia. In all, 49 Germans, six Danes, and one Swede served in the Tranquebar mission. But we must now turn to the remarkable reception of this first Protestant mission in Europe. PIETISM was a movement in the Lutheran Church that called for spiritual transformation in the lives of Christians via prayer and Bible study. Its enthusiasm provided the energy for the missionary endeavor.

9. Growing Support

In 1715, Ziegenbalg toured Europe to build support for the mission work. He eventually won the support of two Anglican agencies, the SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE (SPCK) and the SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS (SPG), both originally established to support Anglican ministers in the American colonies.

10. The Legacy Continues

Ziegenbalg was succeeded by Benjamin Schultze (1689–1760) who carried the work into Telugu and Hindi speaking communities. The work among the Tamil was carried on by Johann Philip Fabricius (1711–91), who spent 50 years in southern India, completed the Bible translation, and translated a number of hymns and Lutheranliturgical materials. Arriving in 1750, Christian Friedrich SCHWARTZ spent 48 years laying the foundation for the present Lutheran Church of India. The mission languished in the 19th century, and the CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY (CMS), a British-based Anglican agency, assumed the support. Eventually, church members were absorbed into the various Lutheran churches that were created to serve the different Indian language groups.

Bibliography:

Scherer, James A. 1999. “Bartholomew Ziegenbalg.” Missiology 27 (4): 487–94.

Kim, Sebastian C. H. Christian Theology in Asia. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Melton, J. Gordon. Encyclopedia of Protestantism. Encyclopedia of World Religions. New York: Facts on File, Inc, 2005.

Manisha Valmiki, a 19-year-old Dalit girl was from Hathras, UP was brutally gang-raped and assaulted by four upper-caste Thakur men on 14 September 2020.

2. Found lying on the field bleeding and naked

The incident has happened when she had gone to collect fodder for the cattle. She was found by her family in the fields, naked, bleeding, with multiple fractures and a slash in her tongue.

3. Police took a complaint only after 8 days

The police claimed her tongue was cut because she bit it while her attackers were trying to strangle her. Her family gave a formal statement on 22 September 2020.

4. Died in the hospital after 15 days

She fought for her life in the intensive care unit (ICU) for 15 days and died on 29 September 2020.

5. Cops burned the body against the parents will

On the same day, the UP police cremated the girl’s body amid protests as the family members said they were not allowed “a last look” at the corpse and did not allow to perform the last rituals instead they were under the house arrest.

6. Mourning and scared Father of the victim

“Our daughter’s rape has laid bare the caste inequality and the discrimination that the Thakurs practice in this village. Because of this, we are not safe. We must be given security, or we will have to leave this village for good” – Manisha’s Father.

7. The UP police claims, there was no rape

On 01 October 2020, a Senior Police Officer from Uttar Pradesh declared that a forensic report of Manisha’s viscera had proved she was not raped or gang-raped but died due to her neck injury.

8. The accused high-caste Thakurs

Many reports suggest that the UP police initially did not want to register a case against the four accused, all of whom belong to the “dominant” Thakur caste. At the same time, a member of the ruling party dismissed the existence of caste-based discrimination in the village and denied that the incident of gang-rape had taken place in Hathras.

9. Ongoing nationwide atrocities against Dalits

“Women of Dalit communities are more vulnerable. They are under tremendous social pressure because of their caste. They hesitate to report rape cases. No one in the police station listens to them in most of the cases, even if they dare to lodge an FIR. This police apathy is mostly because of them being from the lower caste. It is high time to have a gender sensitization drive for police at every level” – Yogita Bhayana, People Against Rapes in India (PARI)

10. Everyday at-least 10 Dalit rape victims in India

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2019, nearly ten Dalit women are raped every day in India with Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are recording among the highest numbers. From the reported rape cases in Uttar Pradesh, 18 percent of victims are Dalit women.